With 5:43 remaining in this epic NBA Finals beat-down, Gregg Popovich decided to pull off his two pit bulls. The San Antonio Spurs' eventual 113-77 rout of the Miami Heat for a 2-1 series lead was, by that point, a mere formality. Might as well let them bask in the cheers as they sat and watched their work come to fruition.So out came one unstoppable star, Danny Green, who was cut from the league three times and once scored a measly 40 points in an entire season. On Tuesday, Green's 27 points easily outpaced LeBron James' 15."No, never thought in a million years that would happen," Green said with a smile.

Then there was the other star, Gary Neal, who not only was never drafted coming out of college, but never even got a training camp invite. He figured the NBA was mostly a pipe dream until, after a stint in Europe, he received a long-shot offer to play on the Spurs' summer-league team in Las Vegas. He decided to combine a job tryout with his honeymoon. "I had to kind of just smooth it over with my wife," Neal said, of ditching a week on the beach at Atlantis for an experience that wasn't exactly romantic. "It was totally a business trip," he said. "Totally."Neal scored 24 on Tuesday, enough to make all of South Texas love him.Forget the Spurs' Big Three or the Heat's Big Three, this was about the Nearly Lost Two, a couple of shooters off the scrap heap who found a franchise that not only believed in them, but worked relentlessly to make them believe in themselves.No one knows where this NBA Finals is going. LeBron is averaging just 16.7 points a game and seems determined for a breakout game. Tony Parker is set to undergo a MRI Wednesday to check a hamstring injury that could be trouble. We've had three games and only one has been close. There has been no discernable momentum between games. This one, however, will be recalled for Green and Neal combining to shoot 13 of 19 from behind the 3-point line, simply burying the Heat into submission. Two unexpected role players stole the biggest stage in the sport and helped San Antonio establish an NBA Finals record with 16 three-pointers.